We thank Baisi et al. for their favourable eComment on our article [1, 2]. We think that the first advantage of the intrathoracic stamping method is the avoidance of a pleural puncture or placement of the chest tube before operation. It is possible that an opaque marker lying on the skin is placed several days before operation, as they mentioned. In the case of dye spreading inside the pleural cavity, hence losing marking precision, we make the marking on the stamp of the visceral pleura using a needle with an attached thread. The greatest disadvantage is the position gap between the tumour and the marking because of surgical positions, needle insertion angles, and respiratory movements. In our experience, the stamped marking is within 1 cm of the lesion in all cases and so further study is necessary.
Conflict of interest: none declared
References
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